Means for removing foreign bodies from feed regulators of pressure fed hydraulic supply circuits



Jan. 2, 1951 G. WOOD 2,536,896

MEANS FOR REMOVING FOREIGN BODIES FROM FEED REGULATORS OF PRESSURE FED HYDRAULIC SUPPLY CIRCUITS Filed June 19, 1947 F IG. 2

ZZZ V5 r 650K615 M p Patented Jan. 2, 1951 UNITED STAT ES PAT ENT OFFICE 2,536,896

FOR REMGVING TGREIGN BODIES FROM FEED REGULATORS OF TRES'SUR'E FED HYDRAULIC SUPPLY CIRCUIT-S GeorgeWood, London, England, ass'ignor to'Vickers-Armstrongs Limited, London, England, a cumpany-of-Great Britain Application. June v19, 1945, Serial"-No. 155360 In Great Britain November 20,1946

boiler or other consuming unit by means which responds to the level, or rate of consumption, of liguid inthe consuming unit, and the general practice, par'ticula rly in boiler feed installations is' to provide a float controlled. lift valve, the

connection from the arm of'the float to the valve being by means of a sliding rod passing down through the base of the valve housing into a liquid compartment accommodating a float, the upper end of this rod abutting against the lower end of the lift. valve which is provided with suitable guides and a mitire or other suitable enlargement adapted to seat by gravity in a port'between the inlet and outlet of the valve housing. It is found that such regulatorsfrequently fail, or

do not respond in the desired manner, because of the accumulation of foreign matter in the "valve seating, and also, with some .forms of valve in'the guides for the valve and the rod engaging the lower end of the valve, and the object of the present invention is to provide means for keeping the moving parts of the regulator having fine clearances free from foreign matter by the use of only a filtered small fraction of the feed supply without the need to resort to the less desirable and impracticable method of filtering all of the feed supply.

According to the present invention, means for removing foreign matter from, or preventing the accumulation of foreign matter in, automatic feed regulators for pressure fed hydraulic supply circuits, comprises a by-pass across the pressure supply line to the regulator, the discharge end of this by-pass being positioned so as to direct the water fed there-through into intimate engagement with the moving valve parts of the regulator from which foreign matter is to be cleared, the bore of the discharge of the by-pass being considerably less than that of the normal feed Supply line to the regulator, and means in the by-pass to filter the liquid before it reaches the valve housing.

In order that the invention may be clearly understood and readily carried into eflect drawings are appended hereto illustrating two embodiments thereof by means of the sectional elevation of Figure 1 showing an embodiment. suitable ior use in a system in which the feed pump. discharges -to the feed regulator via a feed heater or heaters, and the .outside elevation of Figure 2,. showing .an arrangement in which a booster pump is introduced owing to the feed pump discharging direct to theieed regulator.

Referring to the. drawings which shows the invention applied to .a boiler feed installation, the normal. or main feed of water to the boiler is from. .a. pump via a. conduit 2. connectedtn. the 3 ofthe. regulator shown as a lift of. valve Lin avalvef-housing 5. The'regulati'ng.

means for the valve 4 is. of the known type. in

whichafloat .6 .is carried by an arm -6 tree to swing about .a fulcrum it within a. boiler water level housing I connected to the boiler .by an inlet .8, the housing 5 being connected to the boiler by the outlet 9.

The lift valve. 4 has, in known manner, a central v bore 4' against the. lower end of which seats a regulator or auxiliary valve 4a operated bythe float. arm fi,and the topof the valve 4 is extended to form a piston I] of larger diameter than the valve 4 and moving in a chamber 18, the space between. the base. of the piston l1 and the valve 4 being subjected to the pressure prevailing in the boiler. It will be evident that when the heat rises to a predetermined level the auxiliary valve 4a will open the lower end of the passage 4' so that water can flow into the chamber i8 above the piston IT to establish the pressure of the feed pump discharge on top of the piston 11 to hold the valve closed. When the water level in the housing 1 falls sufliciently the float raises the auxiliary valve 4a until it cuts off the flow of water through the passage 4'. Subsequently the water in the chamber l8 bleeds back into the housing 5 through the working clearance between the piston l1 and the bore of the chamber 18.

The foregoing operation is well known, but the present invention is primarily concerned with means to keep the moving parts in the lower structure of the valve 4 having fine clearances conduit in to pass part to the, normal main feed supply to the boiler and part to the boiler via clearances around the auxiliary valve 4a.

The by-pass conduit I is adapted to discharge into the portion 5a of the regulator containing the guide H for the lift valve 4, so that the interior of the valve housing is flooded with water delivered from the by-pass, this water passing with the normal main feed to the boiler via openings I 2, and the by-pass conduit In contalning a form of filter [3 suitable for removing sediment and other foreign matter from the water.

The by-pass conduit is connected at one end to the feed discharge preferably close to the pump 6, and the bore or restriction M in the supply line between this connection and the feed regulator compared with the main feed supply.

line to the boiler is so devised that the pressure of the filtered water supply at the regulator is greater than the main feed water supply at the boiler.

. In the embodiment shown in Figure l the pressure drop through the conduit 2 into the regulator is assumed to be greater than through the by-pass conduit l0 owing to the conduit 2 containing the usual feed heater or heaters, which are not shown. However, when the feed pump discharges direct to the feed regulator I, an auxiary pump I 5, as shown in Figure 2, is connected to the main feed discharge line 2, this auxiliary pump being designed to increase the pressure of the water in the auxiliary line sufficiently to overcome the resistance of the filter l3 in such line and to discharge to the regulator at a pressure greater than the main feed discharge at the boiler. This auxiliary pump may be constructed and adapted to function as an additional stage of the main boiler feed pump or may be driven independently by a small electric motor or other available power unit.

Where the present invention is to be adapted to a battery of boilers or other consuming units steaming or otherwise operating at approximately the same pressure, one filtered water supply may be arranged to discharge to each of the several regulators.

I claim:

1. In combination with an automatic feed 5 Number regulator of the type incorporating a main valve and an auxiliary valve co-operating therewith, and: in which the regulator is connected via a supply line to a feed pump, means for removing foreign matter from, or preventing the accumulatioii of foreign matter in, the automatic feed regulator, comprising a by-pass across the pressure supply line to the regulator, the discharge end of this by-pass being positioned so as to direct the water fed there-through into intimate enga'geinent with the moving valve parts of the regulator to clear foreign matter therefrom, the bore of the discharge of the by-pass being considerably less than that of the normal feed supply line to the regulator, and means in the by-pass to filter the liquid before it reaches the valve housing.

.2. Means for removing foreign matter from, or preventing the accumulation of foreign matter in, automatic feed regulators for pressure fed hydraulic supply circuits, according to claim 1 including boosting means in the by-pass to boost the flow of water received through the by-pass and filtering means. 1

3. Means for removing foreign matter from, or preventing the accumulation of foreign matter in automatic feed regulators for pressure fed hydraulic supply circuits, according to claim 2 wherein the boosting means is interposed be-, tween the normal feed supply and the filtering means, 4,v Means for removing foreign matter from, orv preventing the accumulation of foreign matter in, automatic feed regulators for pressure fed hydraulic supply circuits, according to claim 3 wherein the boosting means is an auxiliary pump.

GEORGE WOOD.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent: a

' UNITED STATES PATENTS Name Date Hillier July 22, 1930 McAlear May 5, 1931 

